Diablo II: Damien's Secret
by PhantomWriterShayle
Summary: BEING REWRITTEN. The young druid Damien is the only one who can stand against Prime Evils' rise to power. However, he'll need to overcome a secret of his past beforehand. Inspired by Amousca's Archangels learn.


**With the release of Diablo III, I've decided to rewrite this story for improvement and to test out how well I can upgrade a story. Looking at all the mistakes I made in the old version, I'm almost ashamed. lol.**

**For those who haven't read my stories before, a line break marks a POV change.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo or any of the player classes. I just created Damien.**

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**Prologue**

_**Rogue Lands**_

He was panting by the time he reached the top of the stairs. The climb had been neverending and it was only by the grace of the oak sage circling him and the spirit wolf at his feet that he had made it.

He lifted his head to see moonlight shining in through the cathedral windows, bathing it in a still but heavy silence. The bodies and blood remained from the early day when he first travelled down to the catacombs.

Exhaustion attacked his body, crushing his limbs now that he had stopped. He fell to his knees with a cry. The wolf whimpered and the sage lowered closer to him.

"N-No!" he cried out, "keep your energies on her!" It hesitated, but obeyed and moved to the injured rogue in his arms.

A cough came from her. The wound in her stomach was laced with poison and they had no potions, antidotes, or town portal scrolls. He had bandaged her with a spare shirt he had in his pack but it was a temporary solution. Her only hope was if he could make it to the waypoint in the inner cloister. The resulting earthquake after Andariel died had destroyed the one in the catacombs.

She shivered and looked up at him.

"Hold on," he encouraged, forcing a smile, "I'll get you out of here and to Akara."

She shook her head slowly, "I'm not going to make it..." Her voice was so quiet.

"Don't talk like that, the waypoint is nearby." He tried to stand and failed, his body giving in more and more to fatigue.

"No, you can't make it there..." she smiled, "It's okay. I'm just glad we won back my sisterhoods' home..."

He sat back, knowing she was right. Even with the oak sage, she wasn't going to make it.

"I'm glad I met you. You're...a good friend...for a druid."

He felt his eyes sting but let out a small laugh. She had been his first friend in the rogues and the only one outside the ones in his homeland. It was hard to see her go like this, _And in a place like this..._

Taking a breath, he forced himself up again. The wolf whined and paced restlessly in front of him. He couldn't feel his legs but he wasn't going to allow her to die without one last thing.

He forced himself to the other side of the alter. He nearly slipped on the blood and tripped over rubble, but he made it. His body shook with the effort but heeded his commands. He stopped a safe distance from the other wall, ensuring nothing would fall on them.

Gathering what mana he had, he forced the ground beneath the cathedral wall to open. The wall weakened and crumbled into rubble, bringing a part of ceiling down with it. He shuffled forward and managed a half-fall, half-sit on the ground. He made sure they were directly underneath the hole he made in the ceiling.

"Wh...Why..."

He smiled weakly at her, "Because you should see the moon you keep telling me you like so much."

She smiled, eyes half open, and turned her gaze to the sky. He looked at it with her, recalling the nights on guard duty at the rogue encampment. Those clear nights let him see the Heavens clearly and put him at peace. It made him feel like he was doing the right things, like he was bringing justice to where it was needed. She was the only one who understood this and even shared a similair love.

A cold wind blew in and cooled him down, easing back nausea he wasn't fully aware he had. The oak sage moved closer to him and increased his health. He looked at it, and then down at her. The only reason it would have turned its attention to him was if...

...she was gone. A soft smile was on her face and she was fully relaxed. She seemed to have died peacefully.

The wolf sniffed her wound and looked up at him.

"She's dead..." he said softly.

It sat back and howled, prompting a chorus to follow from the now-free rogue lands. The druid hadn't even realized there were so many out there. He thought they had all moved on when Andariel had taken over the ancestral home of the Sisterhood of the Sightless Eye.

He touched his friend's forehead gently, "Please, let this soul find the Light. She is deserving of the peace it grants. May battle and darkness never find her in her rest."

The howls were the only sounds that broke the silence in the hollow night, echoing the emptiness he felt at another in his life dying at the hands of an Evil. He closed his eyes and listened to the haunting symphony.

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**I don't do well at prologues, but review please ^^**

**Oh, and the part of the cathedral they're in is the open area on the left side of the alter in the game.**


End file.
